LITTLE ROCK — 1. During the primary you ran an ad that said you were the deciding vote to pass health care. The day after you won the primary, you said, “I wasn't the deciding vote.” How do you reconcile these two positions?
Lincoln: The simple answer is I voted for health care reform. Throughout my public service, I have listened to the health insurance horror stories from Arkansans. Many small business owners told me they cannot afford to provide health insurance anymore. Single moms said they can no longer keep their children on their insurance because of their age. I have heard from Arkansans who get dumped by their health insurance because they get sick or can't get health insurance because of pre-existing conditions. I listened to Arkansans when they told me they did not want government-controlled health care, and I stopped the public option from getting passed. I worked to protect Medicare and added 10 years of solvency to the Medicare Trust Fund, while ensuring guaranteed benefits for the 500,000 beneficiaries in our state. The new health care law is not a perfect solution and because America's health care system is complicated, it will take years to get this right. But I believe it was time for reform and I do not agree with Congressman Boozman that we should simply accept the status quo and continue to allow American businesses and working families to suffer under the weight of spiraling health care costs.
2. You and President Obama have stated the health care law is deficit neutral. Please explain how a program that adds over 16 million new recipients of public health care insurance is deficit neutral?
Lincoln: According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the health care reform bill that was passed into law will in fact reduce the deficit by $132 billion over the next decade and by roughly $1 trillion over the following decade. In addition, just a few weeks ago the CBO reported that repealing the health care law, as Congressman Boozman wants to do, would generate an increase in the deficit of $455 billion over 10 years.
3. The leadership of your party failed to produce a budget this year. American families don't have that option. Unlike you, they can't vote to spend money they don't have. Why do you think it is acceptable for the government to operate that way?
Lincoln: Unfortunately, this is not the first time that intense partisanship has prevented consideration of an annual budget in the Senate. It has also occurred in recent years when Republicans were in the majority. I prefer passing a budget so that spending limits are pre-set before individual appropriations are considered. However, in the absence of a budget this year, many federal budget limitations remain in effect from the most recently enacted budget resolution which enables Senators to raise budget points of order. This has occurred several times this year. In addition, I helped impose new pay-go rules in the Senate this year that require any new spending proposals to be offset so that they do not add to the deficit.
4.In July, you said, “the Recovery Act has done exactly what it was intended to do.” The President promised if we passed the Stimulus Bill our unemployment rate would not go above 8.5 percent. It is currently at 9.6 percent. How do you say it “did what it was intended to do” when 16 months later our unemployment rate has increased by over a full percentage point.
Lincoln: The Recovery Act has provided thousands of jobs for working Arkansans and ensured those who were struggling could get the help they needed. In fact, the unemployment rate in Arkansas has remained well below the national average and is currently at 7.4 percent at least partly due to jobs created by the Recovery Act. One-third of the Recovery Act was dedicated to tax relief, cutting taxes for 95 percent of working families, including providing an expanded child tax credit to families of 167,000 Arkansas children and a $2,500 tax credit for 44,000 Arkansas college graduates and their families. I fought to include provisions to help provide Arkansas small businesses with access to the capital and tools they need to help sustain and grow their businesses. In addition, the Recovery Act has awarded at least $150 million to water projects across the state of Arkansas, providing safe drinking water to thousands of rural residents.
Earlier this summer, two noted economists said that the Recovery Act helped to avert a second Depression and will boost 2010 GDP by about 3.4 percent and add almost 2.7 million jobs to the U.S. economy. In August, the Congressional Budget Office released a similar report, noting that the Recovery Act increased the number of jobs by as much as 3.3 million.
5. Over the years you and I have worked together on multiple issues. Can you point to one area where Republicans and Democrats work together to help Arkansans?
Lincoln: Throughout my service to Arkansas, I have fought for my state no matter who was in the room with me. I have not been as concerned with the political views of my allies as I have been about accomplishing our common goal. My common-sense bipartisan approach has left me the target of both extremes, but I know that I don't answer to my party, I answer to Arkansas.
Specifically, I have worked across the aisle on estate tax reform in order to provide a long-term solution that will provide meaningful and permanent relief for family-owned farms and small businesses. This year, I joined my Republican Senate colleagues in an effort to stop the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, which would burden our Arkansas economy.
I used to work closely with Congressman Boozman in obtaining funding for important projects here in Arkansas. Unfortunately, the Congressman chose to play politics at a time when we desperately need him to be fighting for the 3rd District. He signed a pledge to keep our tax dollars in Washington, rather than fight for investments here at home. He left it up to Senator Pryor and me to fight to ensure that our tax dollars come back to Arkansas in the form of key investments that make our lives better.
6. You have stated on the record that you oppose extension of the Bush tax cuts. Why then in a recession do you support the largest tax increase in history on the American people?
Lincoln: I strongly support extension of the 2001 tax cuts except for the super wealthy. This includes extension of tax cuts that I wrote into the 2001 law such as the refundable child tax credit that ensured an additional 140,000 Arkansas working families received a tax cut, an expanded adoption tax credit and the elimination of the marriage penalty. Tax cuts for the middle class and small businesses will help create jobs and the resulting economic activity will help reduce the deficit. For the first time in our history, America went to war while cutting taxes. It is irresponsible not to ask the wealthiest Americans who benefitted disproportionately from the 2001 tax cuts to now help our country climb out of debt and restore our economy.
7. The non-partisan Politifact has thoroughly researched the claims in your first television ads and found them to be “barely true.” Are you comfortable running false negative ads about my record?
Lincoln: My television ads are true and the Politifact research verifies that. Congressman Boozman has stated repeatedly on the record that he supports a plan allowing workers to put a portion of their payroll taxes into private accounts, which most economists agree would drastically reduce benefits for current and future retirees or raise taxes on workers in order to replace depleted funds in the Social Security Trust Fund. I think it's important for Arkansas voters to know that they have a choice in this election and that Congressman Boozman and I have some serious differences that matter. I have fought against the privatization of Social Security and Medicare, while Congressman Boozman has endorsed privatization plans for both. Last year, he voted for a budget that would have privatized Medicare.
8. How does the path to legal status for “undocumented immigrants” as described on your Senate website differ from amnesty?
Lincoln: I do not support amnesty for illegal immigrants. Our first priority must be to secure our borders, which is why I have supported measures aimed at increasing our security at the border, including cosponsoring recent legislation in the Senate to provide $600 million in additional border security funding; and the Secure Fence Act of 2006 to increase mileage of existing border fence and enhance surveillance technology. While I am encouraged by recent reports that the number of illegal immigrants entering the country fell by nearly 65 percent in the last three years, we still have work to do.
In addition, we must deal with the millions of illegal immigrants who are currently residing in our country. I support commonsense reform that brings these illegal immigrants out of the underground economy and into the open. They must earn citizenship by paying a fine for entering the country illegally; pass a background test and wait behind those who are legally working their way to citizenship. If they are unable or unwilling to meet these requirements, they will face deportation.
9. Of the 535 members of Congress, you are the 2nd largest recipient of lobbyist money. How do you still claim to be an “independent voice for Arkansas?”
Lincoln: I have a strong record of standing up to special interests and have proven time and again that I am accountable only to the people of Arkansas. While Congressman Boozman supported the Wall Street bank bailout, then refused to hold financial executives accountable, and benefitted from at least two New York fundraisers with Wall Street executives, I authored the toughest bill to come out of either party in the House or Senate. And just a few short months ago, I was opposed in my election primary by one of the largest special interests, the D.C. unions, who were upset with me because I didn't support the health care public option and Card Check. On both of these issues, I chose to stand up for what is best for Arkansas.
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Senator Lincoln’s answers to Mayor John Gray’s questions:
1. How would you improve our economy in the short run?
Lincoln: My number one priority for Arkansas is creating jobs and getting our economy back on track. As the first Arkansan and woman to ever chair the Senate Agriculture Committee, which has jurisdiction over nearly one-third of the Arkansas economy, I work to make the committee a pipeline for jobs and opportunity in Arkansas. Government doesn't create jobs. However, it can foster an environment where the private sector can create new jobs through job-producing tax incentives. I will continue to push for tax breaks to keep jobs here and for ending tax cuts for companies that send jobs overseas. We can also create jobs here in Arkansas by increasing our exports and passing pending free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and Korea, and ending the Cuban trade embargo.
Most recently, I helped pass a small business bill in the Senate that will promote job creation through a combination of much-needed job tax credits and enhancements for small business lending. I worked to include provisions in this bill that will help small businesses access their own capital. Unfortunately, Congressman Boozman voted against these tax incentives in the House when he had his chance to help Arkansas small business owners and their families.
In addition, Congressman Boozman has repeatedly voted against ending tax breaks for companies that send our jobs overseas. I have a clear record supporting tax incentives to keep jobs here at home and repealing provisions that encourage companies to move jobs overseas. I have championed tax cuts for small businesses because I know that government cannot create jobs, but can provide tools so that businesses can create jobs.
2. Reports by the OECD and The Commonwealth Fund show the U.S. spends twice as much on health care, but has much poorer outcomes, than most other industrialized nations. Ours is the only industrialized nation whose government has been unable to move to a system of providing quality care for all it's citizens. What are your thoughts as to why we've been unable to provide for our people as well as other advanced countries?
Lincoln: I think it is unacceptable that the United States pays twice as much as most other industrialized nations, yet we cover less of our citizens. And it is one of the main reasons I worked so hard to change the status quo by passing health care reform. This is a complicated task and will take several years to get right but we must begin. We have the greatest doctors and nurses, research and hospitals in the world, but the logistics of our health care delivery system are broken and they need to be fixed. We have to move from a system that reimburses for volume to one that reimburses for value, and I believe the health care law is an important step in the right direction.
3. Since our military spending amounts to more than China, Russia, France, Japan, Germany, plus nine other countries, COMBINED, 72 times as much as North Korea, and 72 times as much as Iran - while we face economic, infrastructure, and energy crises domestically - would you support a reduction in military spending, as a sensible measure?
Lincoln: The safety and security of our nation remains a top priority for me. We must be vigilant both at home and abroad, which is why I have worked to ensure we are making investments in our intelligence and homeland security agencies so we can keep our communities and families safe. I also believe that America should spare no expense when it comes to providing our soldiers with whatever they need to complete their missions and to return home to an appreciative nation. The well-being of our troops, veterans and their families should be our utmost priority.
4. What do you think should be done about the $60 billion a year in owed taxes that large corporations avoid paying, through the use of transfer pricing?
Lincoln: I believe it's important that our tax system allow U.S. multinational corporations to be competitive in the global marketplace while at the same time ensuring they play by the same rules as our purely domestic companies. No company should be allowed to shift profits offshore merely for tax avoidance purposes. The Internal Revenue Service already has the authority to regulate inappropriate transfer pricing and I was very pleased that IRS Commissioner Shulman announced late last year a renewed focus and increased enforcement budget at the IRS to crack down on transfer pricing abuses. In addition, as we work on corporate tax reform in the Senate Finance Committee next year, I will support additional legislative proposals that would increase transparency of pricing and ensure against gaming of the corporate tax system. On the other hand, Congressman Boozman has amassed a long record of rewarding corporate tax dodgers, who use offshore tax havens to avoid paying $37 billion in federal taxes each year.
5. Do you support the Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project, and what is your response to the alternatives offered by the Wildlife Management Institute?
Lincoln: I have supported the Grand Prairie project throughout my career because it will help to prevent the depletion of the Alluvial and Sparta Aquifers that serve East Arkansas while also helping to sustain municipal water supplies and irrigated agriculture. The regional economy and most jobs are dependent on the agricultural industry, including farming, rice or soybean processing, distribution, and supporting businesses. The economic impact of not implementing this project is estimated at a loss of $46 million per year for the agriculture industry alone. Authorized by Congress in 1996, the project has been thoroughly reviewed and I believe that it can be implemented in a way that does not harm the environment.
6. Are you in favor of agribusinesses being allowed to continue in their current practice of buying up patents, and controlling the use of seeds and other organisms, and if not, would you propose legislation to prohibit it?
Lincoln: I believe investments in seed technology should be protected by our longstanding intellectual property and antitrust laws. Farmers currently have a myriad of options to purchase seeds that best fit the needs of their operation, and it has been proven that the world needs this rapidly advancing marketplace. Earlier this year, the National Research Council found that the use of patented genetically engineered crops over the last 14 years has led to improved soil quality, reduced erosion, massive reduction in insecticide use, higher yields, lower production costs and increased worker safety. I believe we must foster the best science and technology to meet our moral obligation to help feed the world.
7. Since our participation in free trade treaties and the WTO have resulted in the loss of almost all U.S. manufacturing, as well as a loss of some national sovereignty over our own regulatory and institutional standards, do you advocate our continued participation in such agreements?
Lincoln: Free trade agreements have resulted in thousands of jobs in Arkansas and brought billions of dollars into our economy. However, losses have occurred in some industries and I have fought for Trade Adjustment Assistance to retrain workers and help them find new jobs in Arkansas. Congressman Boozman consistently opposes TAA. I also believe that strict enforcement of our trade laws is an essential part of ensuring that global trade works positively for the United States. As a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, I have taken an active role in ensuring our trade laws are properly enforced. When foreign steel producers began dumping their highly subsidized and under-priced product on the U.S. market, I used my position on the Committee to demand the necessary steps be taken to defend American steel workers. I pressured the Administration to impose higher tariffs on Chinese tire imports, protecting the jobs of 1,700 workers in Texarkana.
8. Since it's been established that the expense of doing so would be minimal, where do you stand on requiring the labeling of all food products containing GMO's?
Lincoln: There is currently no law preventing a product from being labeled “GMO -free.” I see that label almost daily when I shop for my family. Yet we cannot ignore the benefits genetically modified crops have provided the world. Not only have these crops dramatically increased yields, but they have improved soil quality and reduced insecticide use. Agriculture biotechnology advancement allows the safe expansion of the food and fiber supply in this country and around the world. I strongly support every farmer's ability to grow crops and livestock with the freedom to choose among biotech, conventional or organic methods of production.
9. If farmers receive the $1.5 billion in disaster aid Senator Lincoln recently requested, and if you were - or are - the Senator, how would you see to it that the hardest hit farms, regardless of size, received the most aid, rather than the top 10% of wealthiest farmers receiving 2/3 of the total aid, regardless of how small their loss? Please be specific.
Lincoln: The disaster program announced earlier this month by USDA ensures those who suffered the most will receive the assistance they need to stay in business and continue to produce the safest, most affordable, and abundant supply of food in the world. When disasters hit our state in 2009, they did not discriminate based on the size of any farm. The rains, floods and freezes did not pick and choose farmers based on how much land they own or what their tax return looked like, and neither does the agriculture disaster assistance I delivered through USDA earlier this month, over Congressman Boozman's objections. The agriculture disaster assistance I secured for Arkansas farmers treats each farmer equally, regardless of size. Every farmer that suffered at least a five percent loss will receive the same per acre payment per crop.
10. I'm inclined to describe our government's payment status of the $1.25 billion, more than ten year old, settlement owed to minority farmers as being in default. What suggestions do you have as to where the money to pay this overdue debt might be found?
Lincoln: I agree that full funding of the Pigford settlement claims has to be a priority of this Congress. Unfortunately, Republicans have objected to consideration of this measure in the Senate. As Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I am committed to ensuring that every farmer in Arkansas receives equal treatment and access in the delivery of USDA's programs and services. I have been working diligently to help provide the compensation owed to African- American farmers who have been victims of discrimination. In 2009, I cosponsored legislation to ensure African-American farmers who filed Pigford settlement claims as a result of the 2008 farm bill will receive the money they are entitled to. The bill allows claimants to access the $100 million already appropriated in the farm bill; once that money is expended, claimants would gain access to the Department of Treasury permanent appropriated judgment fund. I applauded the House passage of the Pigford Funds in May of this year. Congressman Boozman voted against the bill containing the funding. I have continued to work with Senate leaders to overcome Republican objections to the Pigford settlement funding.
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1. What do you consider your primary responsibility as a member of Congress?
Lincoln: My primary responsibility is to represent the people of Arkansas-I answer to them. I'm on the battlefield in Washington, fighting for my constituents, not in the partisan foxholes on either side. I will fight for Arkansas whether it's against the leadership of my own party, the President or the companies that send our jobs overseas. My job is to stand up for Arkansas.
2. Do you think you have done a good job as a member of Congress representing the people of Arkansas in Washington, D.C.?
Lincoln: I have worked hard to get into positions of influence for our state, such as becoming the first Arkansan to chair the Senate Agriculture Committee, which has jurisdiction over nearly one-third of the Arkansas economy. I am committed to using this Committee as a pipeline for jobs and opportunity for Arkansas. I am also a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee and serve on the Senate Energy Committee, positions I have used to push for tax incentives for working Arkansans and growing our new energy industry.
3. What percentage of impact does your political party have on your decisions and votes?
Lincoln: My job is to represent the entire state of Arkansas.
4. How often do you feel you vote against your political party lines when it comes time to vote on a bill?
Lincoln: I approach every vote with Arkansas's best interests in mind. Throughout my service to Arkansas, I have fought for our state no matter who was in the room with me. I have not been as concerned with the political views of my allies as I have been about accomplishing our common goal. My common-sense bipartisan approach has left me the target of both extremes, but I know that I don't answer to my party, I answer to Arkansas.
5. Do you feel an obligation to the PACs, Special Interest Groups and Political Party that helped you get into office?
Lincoln: The people of Arkansas hired me for this job, and I answer only to them. I have a strong record of standing up to special interests and have proven time and again that I am accountable only to the people of Arkansas. While Congressman Boozman supported the Wall Street bailout, then refused to hold financial executives accountable, I authored the toughest bill to come out of either party in the House or Senate. And just a few short months ago, I battled with one of the largest special interests - the D.C. unions - who were upset with me because I refused to support them 100% of the time because it was not in the best interests of Arkansans.
6. Is that obligation higher than the one you have to the Constitution or the people of Arkansas?
Lincoln: As a U.S. Senator, I have sworn to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, and it is an obligation I take seriously.
7. Do you consider yourself an independent voice for the people of Arkansas?
Lincoln: Yes.
8. If so then why didn't you run as an independent?
Lincoln: I'm proud to be an Arkansas Democrat in the same tradition as Dale Bumpers, David Pryor and Bill Clinton.
9. Our national debt is growing higher every day. Do you feel responsible for that?
Lincoln: I am the only candidate in the race to vote for a balanced budget. I helped pass legislation in 1993 that led to four years of surplus and economic prosperity. I know what it takes to make the tough decisions that lead to responsible spending. Congressman Boozman's votes to rubberstamp Bush deficit-busting budgets turned our record budget surpluses into record deficits. His votes also increased the debt by 46 percent to $8.6 trillion since 2002. Congressman Boozman has voted to increase the debt limit at least five times and has voted against the same pay-go rules that I support requiring Congress to offset any new spending so that it does not increase the deficit.
10. Do you have any intention at all of dealing with this problem?
Lincoln: Washington has to balance its checkbook just like Arkansas families. We need to get spending under control, which is why I support common-sense budget reforms like pay-go. From my first days in Congress as a Blue Dog Democrat, I have a proven record of supporting legislation to balance the budget and reduce the deficit, including my support for a balanced budget constitutional amendment, pay-go legislation and a bipartisan debt commission to find ways to bring down federal debt. I worked with President Clinton to adopt economic policies to balance the budget and produce a record surplus. And I have voted to freeze my own pay and I have elected to freeze the pay of my Senate staff while Arkansans are feeling the brunt of economic recession and recovery. This is also why jobs are my number one priority. Creating new jobs will put us on the path to reducing our deficit. I will continue to push for tax incentives to keep jobs here and eliminate tax cuts for companies that send jobs overseas. Unlike Congressman Boozman, I voted to close corporate tax loopholes and use the money to reduce the deficit.